DailyDirt: Diamonds, With Lucy, In The Sky

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Carbon comes in several allotropes: graphene, diamond, nanotubes, buckyballs, nanofoam etc. Some forms are easier to manufacture than others, but someday we might have diamond-based semiconductors or diamond-based quantum computers. If you like shiny minerals, here are just a few interesting links on diamonds.

Re: Qubits for seconds

There are plenty of non-volatile RAM technologies out there, as well as volatile RAM technologies that don't need to be refreshed, like SRAM. DRAM just does a better job of getting performance and size out of the same dollar.

The experimental quantum-grade diamond is 99.99 percent pure carbon 12 (DIAMOND), the most common isotope of the element. But the crystal also contains a small amount of the heavier isotope carbon 13 (NOT DIAMOND) as well as implanted nitrogen ions (NOT DIAMOND) that form defects in the diamond lattice known as nitrogen vacancy centers. Both impurities have certain quantum benefits.

So the qubits are not 'stored in a diamond' they are stored in Carbon 13 and nitrogen ions..

Consider a transistor in a plastic case, do you write that the transistor works because it is in a plastic case ?

"my computer works because the box it is housed in is metal !!"

Dont even bother to consider that "time" and qubits have a significantly different relationship to each other compared to 'normal' matter.

If something came be in two states (0 and 1) at any one time (superposition), then time itself ceases to be a significant factor. You simply cannot equate electronic computer concepts (like DRAM) to how a quantum computer could possibly operate.

You also might be able to store the state of a qubit over time, but you still need super cold equipment to read or write or 'program' information

Re: Re:

I know what brittle means.

I also know, from a friend who does amateur jewelry work, that the moderate pressure of fitting a diamond into a setting can easily chip and crack it. Add that to the giant structure of the ring and all the places where pressure would be troublesome.. Just as well that it will probably never be worn.

Re: Re:

Re: Re: No. Not true. Also, silly.

The main reason that rings are harder to take off than to put on is that the skin bunches up when you try to pull it off.

When you slide a ring on, the skin of your finger can't move very much since it only goes from your fingertip down to the base. However when you try to pull the ring off, the skin can move quite a bit more, and ends up getting bunched up at the knuckle.

The solution for a stuck ring, in addition to using some kind of lubrication is to hold the skin taunt at the base of the finger while attempting to pull the ring off.

Re: “carbon 13 (NOT DIAMOND)”

Re: Re: No. Not true. Also, silly.

And if it gets stuck on your finger, it'll be really hard to cut off without taking your finger with it....

Not slip off or take off. Cut off. Specifically.

I used to manage a fine jewelry store, and we had to remove stuck rings on a regular basis. Most took a special little saw tool. Others, such as tungsten bands and this ring, require a C-clamp. Easy and relatively painless.